A young man sat at his desk inside a simple apartment. The walls were illuminated by the soft moonlight that entered through the large windows. He sat in the living room of the apartment his parents had gifted him after graduating from high school to prepare for his university entrance exams.
While busily reviewing his notes. His triple monitors were right in front of him with multiple empty cups next to them; he glanced at the time as a sigh escaped from his mouth.
"It's already 12, huh?" he muttered as he leaned back comfortably on his chair and cracked his neck a couple times.
The tension left his body. He looked at his monitor once more; it showed 2 January. He didn't have much time left to prepare for the common test for university admissions.
"If only Mom and Dad didn't force me to complete my bachelor's and master's, then I could be enjoying life." He complained with a slight smile on his face.
He was just venting his frustrations; he also wanted to enter a good university and study to make sure he could properly take over the family business.
Shaking his head to rid it of the distracting thoughts, he once more sat upright and started reviewing everything he had done during the day once more. Making sure he didn't miss anything.
After another hour of studying, he slumped backwards, staring at the ceiling with unfocused eyes.
"That's enough for today."
After tidying up his desk and shutting down his computer, he wanted to take his phone out of his pocket, but when his hand entered his right pocket, it was empty.
"..."
He stood there frozen in place; where was his phone?
"I'm sure I put it inside my pocket after I left the cafe, right?" His voice trembled slightly as he replayed all the events that had happened today to make sure he hadn't just misremembered and hadn't forgotten his phone at the cafe.
Smacking his head, he could only sigh as his shoulders slumped. With a shrug, he decided to let it be; he was exhausted after such a grueling day.
So instead of worrying about it needlessly, he grabbed all the empty cups and put them inside the dishwasher together with the pans and pots he had used to make dinner, and after making sure it was on, he quickly made his way to his bedroom.
Opening the sleek black wooden door, he immediately felt his whole body relax as he let himself fall face-first on his large bed.
"I'll worry about it tomorrow. It's just a phone; if I lost it, I can just buy a new one tomorrow, even though it is kind of a pain."
Just like that, he closed his eyes and let his whole body relax as he entered and fell asleep almost immediately.
***
"Mrrrgggh, ah, that felt great," he mumbled as he lazily stretched his whole body and lay in his bed with the sun illuminating his face.
His hand once more went toward the right pocket in his pants, but just like yesterday, it was empty.
His whole body froze for a second, but right after, he just shrugged and quickly got out of his bed.
"Guess it wasn't just me being tired," he said.
After quickly discarding his clothes onto the ground, he took a simple outfit out of his closet: a white short-sleeved shirt and black slacks.
He stood in front of the mirror admiring his simple outfit, which complemented his black eyes and short, messy white hair.
"Much better."
With a satisfied smile on his face, he made his way toward his study room once more to check if maybe he had done goofed and left his phone somewhere over there.
When he entered his study once more, he first went straight toward his desk, where all his papers and study material were neatly organized, and next to all those lay a phone.
But he scratched his head in confusion; this phone looked completely different from his own. Instead of the all-black phone with a black case, it became light blue with weird white lines across the back and was even glowing.
And there was no port to load the phone; for a moment he just stared at it. Unsure what to do. It was clearly a phone, but not his own.
But after a while of pondering on what to do, he let curiosity get the better of him and picked the unfamiliar phone up from the desk.
The moment he turned the phone around, the screen lit up, and he saw a strange message displayed on the screen.
***
[ Multiverse Navigation OS – v1.0 ]
Welcome, User: [Senzo Kazuko]
Initialization complete. Your multiversal access privileges have been authorized.
───────────────
> Start World Jump
> Inventory
> Shop
> Background Information
> Abilities
> Mission Log
> ───────────────
[!] Gain: Adaptive Reflexes—Greatly enhances reaction speed and agility.
[!] Post-World Effect: Upon returning from your first world, Earth will begin forming dungeons. Good luck, Senzo-kun. You'll need it.
[!] World 1: "Zettai Karen Children The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyosuke" – Entry Prepared
[!] Background: Class 7 Esper [Expand]
Tap an option to proceed. Hold to access Advanced Settings.
[Tip] Missions are optional, but higher ratings yield greater rewards.
────────────────────
"What?"
Senzo's eyes widened in surprise upon reading all the information displayed on the phone's screen.
Multiversal access privileges? World 1? He quickly turned around to see if anyone was recording him to post the prank on Streamtube.
But no, he was still all alone in his apartment, with this weird phone.
"Am I going insane? Did I study too much yesterday?" He muttered while staring at the phone screen and rereading everything that was displayed on it.
But even after 15 minutes of staring, nothing changed, and no one had appeared to scream gotcha.
So he took the phone with him to the living room and sat down leisurely on the couch, his eyes glued to the screen the whole time.
"I guess I should check this phone out a little more," he muttered, looking around the room one last time to make sure he was alone.
And after no one popped up once again, he sighed, letting his shoulders slump, and turned his attention toward the phone.
And finally carefully went over everything it was displaying.
"Multiversal access, and that first world is most definitely an anime that I've watched."
After that he systematically went over everything the shop had to offer; the shop was majestic, as almost anything he could think of was purchasable, like stocks in large companies on Earth, magic, and even potions that can bring back the dead.
But sadly he had zero points right now, so he could only look at all those juicy items, but he couldn't buy any.
Next he went over the other messages that caught his attention, mostly the "adaptive reflexes" he supposedly gained, but he didn't feel anything different with his body, so he left that for later.
The next message was rather ominous, however.
"Dungeons will appear after I return from the first world? Wouldn't that make me a supervillain then?"
Just imagining monsters running rampant everywhere and people getting eaten left and right left him shuddering; at least that is how it's always been in those manhwa he read.
Then the faces of both his parents flashed across his mind, and he shook his head.
"That's just my imagination; the phone clearly stated forming instead of outbreak, which always happens in those manhwa."
Still, he felt rather uncertain; even if he would be a level 7 esper after returning, there was no guarantee that he would be able to protect his parents if his assumptions were wrong and those dungeons would break immediately upon forming.
Smacking both his cheeks with his hands, Senzo looked outside the window solemnly. He couldn't let fear get the better of him.
This phone was a massive opportunity and if he kept thinking about possible worst-case scenarios he'd never accomplish anything.
"Let's leave that for later; I'll first fully check out this phone for now."